Life Among Them
by cubby4ever445
Summary: Manny Shafer is the son of a Deathwatch Inquisitor who specializes in Tyranid invasions. but when a bizzare pattern in the Tyranid invasion is found. Will Manny learn that there is more to these creatures than meets the eye? M for blood, gore, violence, and language
1. Prolouge

This is my first story, it is a cross over between warhammer and deadspace, and it also features stuff from an original story I am working on. I am planning on trying some really unique twists, so let me know what you guys think.

Thump. Thump. Thump. The sound of his beating heart was all he could hear.

Closer, they were getting closer. He couldn't out run them, they were too fast. He never thought that it would end like this.

Thump. Thump. Thump. The sound, it was growing louder.

Of all the times for the shit to hit the fan, this had been the worst. The Deathwatch had been ready, waiting for the nids to reach the cities walls. They had set up some powerfull new anti tyranid artiliery on all sides, along with dozens of well armed soldiers. Outer Vanity had become a stronghold prepared for the worst those blasted bugs could throw at them.

Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump. The drumming in the boy's chest grew more erratic as he ran.

Ran from their stronghold, defeated, wounded, with only six shots of ammo left, and a horde of gaunts closing in fast.

What in the hell happened back there anyway? Things had been going so good. They were pushing them back, and then. All he had seen was a shockwave come from the Marker testing facility, but that was nothing compared to what came next. Corpses, killer corpses coming from the cities inner workings. What were they? Was this some kind of new tyranid bio weapon? Those things sure looked nid like. Mother. Oh Emperor why?

The boy's pace slowed. He was exhausted. He really wished he had grabbed a melee weapon to use with his gun. His name was Manuel Shafer, although most people call him Manny. He was the eight year old son of Deathwatch Inquisitor Julietta Shafer. Julie raised Manny from birth to join the Inquisition and had done well in teaching Manny the Empire's morales. Manny dispite being only eight years old, had proven to be an incredible combatant, surpassing the average soldier in both hand to hand, and ranged training. Manny also was very cunning and knew how to use his size and agility to his advantage when fighting someone bigger than him.

Manny also was quite the talented tinkerer and enjoyed coming up with new and interesting weapons, one of which he was in fact carrying. It was a pistol with a three shot revolver cartridge that held incindiary shotgun shells. He had one mag loaded and a spare in his pocket. Unfortunately this weapon had not been tested with the nids, and had proven ineffective against heavy armor, likely meaning that it would be useless on the tyranids chitinous hides.

He slowly turned around. He could hear them in the nearby brush. They had found him. There was no point in denying it any more. He couldn't win. The stronghold. The mission. Mother. They had failed. A single tear ran down his cheek as he made final peace with the Emperor, before placing the barrel of his gun in his mouth, and pulling the trigger.

BLAM!

The Hormagaunt dropped, injured but still alive. Manny stared into the brush as more began to make their appearence.

"Only a coward accepts death Manny."

The words that his mother had told him, rang strong in his heart as he spoke.

"You felforsaken beasts aren't gonna get me without a fight!"

He then pointed his pistol at the approaching horde and fired.


	2. Arrival

(Just a quick note. The first couple of chapters take place before the prolouge does.)

It was three weeks earlier when the first mycetic spores touched down on the planets surface. The blissful garden world of Thalos 4, also known by its people as Eden. Thalos was a world rich with life. Fertile and green, it had very little in regards to technology, and that's just how the natives liked it. The Thalons as the Imperium refered to them as, were often labeled as barbaric and fanatical, to the point where special action had to be taken.

The people of Thalos had begun a very blasphemous religious cult based on the belief that the marker was in fact a god, forsaking the Emperor and his word. These Unitologists believed that the marker had pepared a future for the Imperium where all of humanity would be united in one body, one mind, and one soul.

Marker technology and it's secrets were gaurded closely by the Deathwatch in particular, as few outside of their ranks knew that the markers were in fact copied from xenos technology. Anyone found prying too deeply into these secrets would be swiftly put to death. Upon the realisation of the twisted occurences on Thalos, the Deathwatch was deployed in order to secure the planets marker facilities, and keep the markers from falling into the hands of the unitologists.

The Kill Team had been there for no more than three days, before the first mycetic spores hit, yet somehow the team leader Inquisitor Julietta Shafer seemed completely unsurprised by this, in fact she seemed to be expecting it.

"I knew this was going to happen." She sighed.

"Great. So, what's the plan here?" Came a rather uncertain man's voice.

Company Captain Arron Wilson was his name. He was also known as "Jackass Junior" behind closed doors for his tendency to say and do things that would get other soldiers killed on the spot, and get away with them. Being the close friend of your commanding officers son does have its perks.

"Considering the circumstances, I don't feel we have the luxury of running." Julie said, ignoring Arron's snarkiness.

"So...We fight?" Arron asked, again uncertain.

"Yes, that is correct Mr. Wilson." Julie said. "Besides, I need to know what truly drives them."

Arron blinked in confusion. "Drives what? The bugs? I thought we had already figured that out." He said, obvious concern in his voice.

"I think we may have been mistaken." Julie said.

"Uhhhhhhh okay." Arron was very confused, and more than a little afraid for his life at this moment.

"Arron." Julie said, gently placing her hands on Arron's shouders. "What I am about to tell you is highly classified Inquisition knowedge. I would not do this otherwise, however, this whole team is being place straight in the crossheirs and I feel that you need to know the truth of why we are really here." She stared straight into his eyes.

Arron's heart stopped. It felt like she was staring into his soul. This woman could be really scary at times. "Um. Ms. Shafer, Are we going to adress this with the rest of the team?"

"Yes, we should." Julie said, removing her hands. She seemed really distracted.

"I'll alert the men right away!" Arron said. He then quickly went to rally the troops, taking advantage of Julie's distracted state.

He realised grimly, that if Julie was about to share classified Inquisition knowedge, then they were in really deep shit.


	3. An Unusual Pattern

((I'd like to make a quick note to say that while you will see and hear about people and places from Dead Space, many of their roles will be very different to fit in this universe.))

"It was over a millenia ago that mankind first discovered the black marker deep beneath the surface of a mining world called Aegis 7, by a man named Michael Altman." Julie began.

The entire regiment which consisted of four Deathwatch kill teams and two gaurdsmen regiments were present. They were very anixious as Julie began to reveal the true nature of their mission to Thalos. From what they had been told, it had been a simple artifact retrieval, but now it was clear it was something more.

"The Black Marker was an alien object of unknown origin." Julie continued. "And it possessed the incredible ability to produce endless ammounts of energy. It was through Altman's research that mankind found a way to replicate this object. These Red Markers were the result, and are in fact created from xenos technology."

There were a large number of nervous murmurs from the gaurdsmen. This was the first time that they had heard of this. The markers were considered to be holy relics, and anyone caught tampering with them was executed, but that was about all the common man knew.

"The first red marker was transported to an imperial base on the ocean world of Tyran. Tyran was the among the first worlds to be consumed by the tyranids."

Julie paused, ice blue eyes scanned the many uncertain faces in front of her. She let out a soft sorrow filled sigh, before continuing.

"Shortly after the defeat of hive fleet Behemoth, an unusual pattern was in the fleets behavior was discovered by Inquisitor Kryptman. Every single world that the tyranids had sucked dry, had a marker lab on their surface. This is a pattern that has been spotted not just with Behemoth, but with all of the other tyrannic incursions."

It was at this revealation that a young private immedietely stood with a primal fire filling his eyes.

"What the fuck lady?! You brought us out here knowing that those things were going to show up?!

Julie's eyes locked with his. "Yes, I did." She said, her tone was stern, and held a hint of danger, if the gaurdsman didn't back down. She subtlely began to reach for her pistol. The last thing they needed was a rebellion.

BLAM

Julie twitched as a gunshot came from next to her. The loudmouth private dropped, his eyes rolling into the back of his head as he hit the pavement. Julie turned ever so slightly, and sure enough, Manny had beat her to the punch.

Manny casually returned his pistol to its holster. "Anyone else got a comment they wanna add?" He asked the now terrified onlookers. Three of the men in the front row fearfully shook their heads.

"Julie gave Manny a short nod of approval, before continuing her speech.

"Yes, I will admit I knew about this likelyhood, but I needed proof. Many Inquisitors have shot down this theory due to a lack of evidence. I think that it has more to do with the fact the this knowedge came from both a fallen Inquisitor, and has to do with the fact that there was such a significant delay between the time when the first red marker was created, and the tyranids appearence.

"There was a timespan of over nine hundred and fifty years before behemoth actually appeared. That's pretty significant. In addition, the markers are not organic technology, as such anyone who has actually dealt with the nids will dismiss the theory, because all of the nids bio weaponry and even their ships are living organisms."

"There has never been a recorded insance of the tyranid race using technology that is completely artificial, however in every recorded attack, the doomed worlds markers have been reported as missing. About a month ago, during the battle of St Capilene, a Deathwatch killteam that infiltrated a hiveship uncovered several shards of one of the red markers that had been taken from the world. The Tyranids appeared to be dissecting them."

"The Inquisition has made a number of theories over the years as to the true nature of these creatures. Almost all of them had believed that it was the tyranids goal to consume all life in the galaxy, but after this discovery. I have a strong feeling that we may have been mistaken."

"And that is why our group is here. The tyranids are here because of the worlds markers, and we are here to find out why."

Regiment commander Tiberius Lex raised his hand, before speaking.

"Has the possibility of the marker acting as an attractant been considered?"

"Yes it has." Julie said solemnly. "The energy the marker produces is electromagnetic, it has no compatabilities with phychic energy and can actually harm psykers, in addition, tests done on both subjects have shown no compatability between the nids and markers. A guant left in the same room as a marker shard, was shown to be repelled from it rather than attracted."

"I see." Lex said. "We have no conclusive evidence aside from their presence."

"That is correct." Julie said. "We don't know what drives them, and that is what I plan to find out."

"I understand Inquisitor." Lex said. "We anxiously await your command."

The rest of the gaurdsman reluctently assumed their positions and offered a salute. Whether they wanted to or not, they were now stuck here, and it was do or die.

"Excellent! That's the spirit!" Julie said. "The first order of bussiness is to turn Outer Vanity into a fortress. This town will be our stronghold. No matter what happens, this place cannot fall."

"Ma'am yes ma'am!" Came the collective response. It was time to go to work. By the time they were through with this town, it would be nigh impenetrable.


End file.
